An ongoing series of articles on songs & performances of the early Grateful Dead.

June 24, 2013

The Other One Timings (Guest Post)

This is a list of timings for all the Other Ones we have on tape.
The timings are based on deadlists, but with many corrections from the Archive copies which tend to be more accurate. They should be taken as approximate, since the exact timing depends on the tapespeed. (AUD timings can be particularly tricky.) Corrections of egregious mistimings are welcome, though!
A longer explanation of these timings is at the end.
This list was mainly done by Uncle Judas of the Transitive Axis forum.

# in the time indicates a tapecut.
[AUD] means there is no SBD tape available.

This list was begun by Uncle Judas and finished by me. It’s not the list either of us would have made on our own, so pardon any oddities! This is meant to be a starting-point to aid further research.

The Other One is the hardest song to time in the Dead’s repertoire.
Going through the list, it soon became clear there can be no definitive list of timings. Deadlists is often inaccurate in its times – not only that, but tapespeeds can vary considerably from one copy to another. It’s common for an Other One timing to vary from 10-20 seconds between copies, depending on the speed. Often, the length of an Other One can also depend on where the track-breaks are placed – in many places it’s debatable where an Other One emerges from a Truckin’ in the ‘70s or from Space in the ‘80s, with totally different times on various copies. So, these timings can only be approximate.
In general, a lot of the timings are straight from Deadlists, but there are also many corrections from the best Archive copies. For the earlier years, I mostly left Deadlists timings as they were except for checking AUD tapes; but in the ‘80s and ‘90s, where Deadlists is less reliable, most timings are taken from an Archive copy (typically Miller’s). I know this method is inconsistent and probably leaves many timing errors intact, so please comment if you notice any glaring mistakes.
Ideally, a list like this would start from scratch and would simply use the best Archive source for each show, listening to each to determine the most accurate times, and linking to the source. But that is a task only the deepest fanatic can endure. For now, this is the most complete and accurate list available.

In 1972-74 it is often hard to tell just where the Truckin’ jam ends and the Other One begins. This list could be more detailed in breaking down the lengthy Other Ones from those years – for instance, there are many more bass/drum interludes, or Other One teases in the Truckin’ jams, than are listed here. (Deadlists includes more detailed maps of many of the Other Ones in 1972.) There are some inconsistencies here – sometimes a Space jam or bass solo will be marked off from the Other One, or sometimes a post-Truckin’ jam will be timed separately, but sometimes not.
Likewise, in the ‘80s and ‘90s Space tends to merge imperceptibly into the Other One – typically Garcia would start a long zigzag intro with a few telltale notes, and the others would slowly join him. So different copies may have wildly variant Other One times, some starting from when Garcia first starts dropping Other One hints, some only when the band locks in. (It is also frequently impossible to tell just when Drums turns into Space, as they often blend into each other.) Timings from these years are often just guesswork. For this list, I tried to use the maximum times.

Deadlists does not always note cuts in the Other One, so not all cuts are listed here. I’ve noted the dates in the early ‘70s where I knew an AUD patch was needed to fill out an incomplete SBD, but there may be more. (I didn’t pay attention to this in the post-hiatus years – sources multiply and cuts & patches are often not mentioned at all.) Cuts are not listed for any other songs.
I noted guests when I saw them, but may have missed some. (Guests only in the Drums segments were not included.)

The full sequence including each Other One is listed, but you’ll notice that the timings are only provided for the Other One itself and any surrounding Drums or the preceding jam-song. Partly this reduces clutter, partly it’s idiosyncratic. (Wharf Rat, Cosmic Charlie or other songs coming out of the Other One are almost never timed - likewise, songs like the Wheel that go into the Other One.) There are inconsistencies (for instance the extra timings in 1973), which could be ironed out if this list is revised.
He’s Gones or Truckin’s before the Other One are generally timed, on the principle that there are frequently Other One teases in their closing jams (though only some teases are listed here). This also shows how these songs expanded & contracted over the years. Optimally, all of these could be checked and only the ones that actually include closing Other One jams would be timed; but that can be tackled some other day.
You can see Drums evolve through the early Cryptical suites, and the later Truckin’>Drums>Other Ones continue in that line. There was no clear point, though, where Drums should stop being timed, as the Other One drum break merged into the Drums>Space of later years; so all the Drums timings were included.

Some things are missing from this list.
Originally it was intended to separately list all the songs that went into and out of the Other One in each year. I dropped this for now, since it would require so many detailed subdivisions – for instance, distinguishing a Truckin’>Other One from a Truckin’>Drums>Other One from a Cryptical>Drums>Other One, or an Other One>Eyes from an Other One>Eyes>Other One, not to mention whether to include the occasional Space or thematic Jam that sometimes concludes an Other One and leads to another song.

Originally we also meant to list the longest & shortest versions of each year, but this also requires many qualifications. For the early years, should the longest Other One alone be listed, the Cryptical reprises shown separately, or the longest full Cryptical suite listed – including Drums? Or what if an Other One is divided in two by another song? In the mid-‘70s, should the length of an Other One include surrounding Space or thematic Jams? (For instance, the “official” length of the 12-19-73 Other One is 1:57 on Deadlists and Dick’s Picks, separating it from the jams before & after.) In the ‘80s, just where does the Space end in a Space>Other One? (For instance, on 12-31-81 you can find eight different timings for the Other One among the various copies, ranging from 5 to 11 minutes!) Trying to be definitive would be futile. So I left these issues alone for now; people can use the list to make their own determinations.

I have not included separate lists of the AUD-only Other Ones, or the Incomplete Other Ones. I also made no attempt to mention which versions include only one verse.
Lists like these can perhaps be added in the future as appendices.

APPENDIX I:
REPORTED PERFORMANCES

We are missing many Other Ones from the early years – there are probably at least a hundred performances from late ’67 to early ’71 that we don’t have on tape. But here is a brief list of some known performances that have been reported (including a few mistakes). This could be expanded with a more thorough search of show reviews.

1967
10-31-67 Cryptical > The Other One > Cryptical [Deadbase, based on misdated tape] - (this could possibly be the version with low vocals that currently circulates as a studio session)

Fellow fanatic Nick has gone through the numbers & compiled this list - "I added up multiple Other Ones within the same jam, but didn't include timings for the drums... Forgive any errors!" (This hasn't been double-checked.)

THE TOP 25 LONGEST OTHER ONES
12-31-72 The Other One [6:57] > Drums > The Other One [29:31] = 36:28
4-26-72 The Other One [36:27]
5-10-72 The Other One [34:21] > Bobby McGee > The Other One [2:04] = 36:25
9-17-72 The Other One Jam [3:44] > Drums > The Other One [32:35] = 36:19
3-26-72 Other One Jam [6:49] > Drums > The Other One [23:34] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [5:19] = 35:42
9-9-72 The Other One [33:50]
9-28-72 The Other One [28:18] > Bobby McGee > The Other One [3:32] = 31:50
9-3-72 The Other One [30:53]
5-7-72 The Other One [30:34]
8-22-72 The Other One [29:56]
5-24-72 The Other One [29:45]
5-26-72 The Other One Jam [10:44] > Drums > The Other One [12:19] > Morning Dew > The Other One [5:47] = 28:50
5-13-72 The Other One [28:41]
12-8-73 The Other One [28:37]
3-28-72 The Other One [28:14]
8-25-72 The Other One [28:03]
4-7-72 The Other One [19:36] > El Paso > The Other One [8:20] = 27:56
5-3-72 The Other One [11:48] > Drums > The Other One Jam [12:52] > Bobby McGee > The Other One [2:46] = 27:36
7-25-72 The Other One Jam [1:12] > Drums > The Other One [27:#11] = 27:#23
4-11-72 The Other One [25:47]
11-14-73 The Other One [15:15] > Big River > The Other One [6:08] > Eyes > The Other One [4:20] = 25:43
10-17-74 The Other One [23:12] > Spanish Jam > MLB Jam > The Other One [2:28] = 25:40
10-20-89 The Other One Jam [14:41] > Drums > Space > Take You Home > The Other One [10:57] = 25:38
10-24-72 The Other One [23:17] > He's Gone > The Other One [1:20] = 24:37
12-10-72 The Other One [24:#35]
6-26-73 The Other One [6:34] > Bobby McGee > The Other One [17:59] = 24:33

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES OF THE 60's (all over 12 minutes)
8-3-69 The Other One [17:35]
8-2-69 The Other One [15:42]
12-30-69 The Other One// [13:11#]
12-21-69 The Other One [13:04]
7-4-69 The Other One [12:30]
12-10-69 The Other One [12:14]
11-8-69 The Other One [12:05]

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES: THE POST-TC, PRE-KEITH PERIOD (70-71) (all over 15 minutes)
8-23-71 The Other One [13:00] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [7:32] = 20:32
5-29-71 The Other One [17:13]
8-15-71 The Other One [11:15] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [5:45] = 17:00
8-14-71 The Other One [16:40]
4-14-71 The Other One [16:25]
8-26-71 The Other One [15:56]
7-2-71 The Other One [15:40]

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES: EARLY KEITH (71) (all over 20 minutes)
11-20-71 The Other One [24:19]
12-1-71 The Other One [14:30] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [9:10] = 23:40
10-29-71 The Other One [20:16] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [2:58] = 23:14
12-4-71 The Other One [19:14] > Mexicali > The Other One [3:12] = 22:26
12-6-71 The Other One [7:49] > Bobby McGee > The Other One [13:52] = 21:41
11-14-71 The Other One [9:14] > Me & My Uncle > The Other One [12:21] = 21:35
11-12-71 The Other One [20:35]

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES: KEITH-ERA, POST-HIATUS (76-79) (everything over 14 minutes)
5-25-77 The Other One [14:55] > Wharf Rat > The Other One [4:15] = 19:10
1-22-78 The Other One [17:04]
5-13-77 The Other One [15:45]
4-6-78 The Other One [15:44]
1-8-78 The Other One [15:20]
3-20-77 The Other One [14:48]
12-16-78 The Other One [14:34]
1-17-78 The Other One [14:18]

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES: BRENT-ERA (79-90) (everything over 12 minutes)
10-20-89 The Other One Jam [14:41] > Drums > Space > Take You Home > The Other One [10:57] = 25:38
4-23-83 The Other One [18:21]
12-5-79 The Other One [17:10]
7-31-83 The Other One [17:06]
9-18-83 The Other One [13:54]
11-25-79 The Other One [12:52]
12-28-80 The Other One [12:37]
3-6-81 The Other One [12:19]

THE LONGEST OTHER ONES: VINCE-ERA (90-95) (everything over 12 minutes)
2-24-92 The Other One [10:20] > Way > Other One tease [1:00] > Same Thing > Drums > Space > Wave > The Other One [4:05] = 15:25
3-29-91 Other One Jam [3:35] > Drums > Space > The Other One [10:03] = 13:38
2-23-93 The Other One [12:59]
10-6-94 The Other One [12:33]
5-27-93 The Other One [12:24]
3-20-91 The Other One [12:12]
3-25-91 The Other One [12:03]
4-5-91 The Other One [12:00]

Agree with Nick -- overwhelming, but exactly the sort of trainspotting information I come to GD Guide for.

One suggestion: make this post one that only partially displays on the homepage, where you have to click through if you want to see the whole thing. As it is, it takes up the entire page!

Thanks again for all the great work. Hey, any plans on returning to your "1970 In Review" sequence of essays? You're making me want to take on the challenge of May 1970 myself with all the delays! Actually, it shouldn't be TOO impossible, really...of the full shows there's Alfred 5/1, Harpur 5/2, MIT 5/6 and 5/7, Kirkwood 5/14, Fillmore 5/15 early and late, and Newcastle 5/24. Actually, yeah...that's a lotta shows come to think of it.

I delight in overwhelming! It doesn't take up the ENTIRE page...but it did accomplish one of its goals, which was to finally knock Pigpen's pictures off the front page. I'm not a big fan of the click-to-see-more type of post. I prefer the whole imposing thing to be right up-front!

As it is, this post is obviously for researchers, not for readers, so I expect there will be some disappointment. I have every intention of continuing on with the 1970 reviews...but May proved to be a bottleneck because it has so many long, classic shows, it will be quite a project to cover them at the level of detail I want. So I think I will divide May 1970 into a couple of partial posts. (Hey, 5/3/70 is already done!)At any rate, there are so many articles I'm anxious to write next, I hardly know which to tackle first...

On a related subject, the Dead seem to have had a good internal clock, since most versions of the Other One or Dark Star in any particular period in the early years are very close in length to each other - more than you'd expect from semi-improvised pieces. Part of that's due to the basic structure being the same each night, but I also suspect the Dead had a good sense of how long they were playing.

Updated this post with a few small corrections, and a few additions to the reported performances. Happily added the 1/21/71 Other One which surfaced three years ago, with the last pre-Keith Cosmic Charlie - the Cryptical>Charlie transition is extraordinary. The whole show probably exists in the Vault, so I hope the soundboard tape of this comes out someday.